Ken Idstein had a clear vision of what he wanted to hear Gov. Bruce Rauner propose in his upcoming state budget address.
“I hope to hear the governor propose a budget that is truly balanced, that gets our spending down below what we take in so we can start to pay down our debt,” Idstein told the Lake County Gazette before the governor's budget address on Feb. 14. “I hope to hear plans to fix our broken pension system, rein in our Medicaid spending, reform the collective bargaining process and consolidate some of our unnecessary units of local government.”
Despite Idstein's wishes, through, the Illinois Policy Institute forecasted that the 2018 budget is set to continue to spend at least $1.3 billion more than it takes in, continuing a trend that has festered for the last two decades.
"For years, even decades, our lawmakers have used political maneuvers and loopholes to ‘balance’ the state budget without reforms,” Idstein added in a post to Facebook. “Instead of making cuts, they reach into the wallets of Illinois families. Their only solution is to tax and spend.”
Idstein, a Republican from Grayslake, is running for the seat held by Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) to change that.
With just a few weeks remaining before the GOP primary, Idstein’s message of greater fiscal responsibility and raised accountability is resonating as never before.
He recently bagged endorsements from Illinois Family Action, Lake County Life PAC, Illinois Federation For Right to Life PAC and from Grayslake Fire Commissioner Greg Koeppen, who also serves as Lake County Farm Bureau executive director, director at Visit Lake County, Illinois, and vice chairman of the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals.
“We’re picking up steam and in the coming days I’ll be going door to door speaking with voters and talking about how we turn our state around,” he said
The 62nd House District includes parts of Grayslake, the Round Lake communities, Hainesville, Wauconda and Gurnee.
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